Men)
De La Salle University accomplished two significant feats with their victory over University of the East, avenging their only first-round loss while also ending the Red Warriors’ five-game winning streak.
The back-to-back title-seeking Green Archers are now the hottest team in the UAAP Season 87 Collegiate Men’s Basketball Tournament with their fourth straight win after dismantling the Red Warriors, 77-68, in front of 8,890 fans inside the Smart Araneta Coliseum Saturday night.
With this win, De La Salle improved to a league-leading 7-1 record, half a game ahead of the idle University of the Philippines.
“The players really fought well. They know the experience of losing to UE. We just rekindled that and reminded them that it will take a lot of effort to really beat this well-coached team. Credit to coach Jack. The guys just didn’t give up and kept on fighting,” said La Salle head coach Topex Robinson.
With the game tight the entire first half, the Green Archers put some separation with a 12-2 blast to close the third with Kevin Quiambao, JC Macalalag, and Vhoris Marasigan all contributing to enter the payoff period ahead 63-54.
Courtesy of John Abate, the Red Warriors closed the gap within five with 3:02 left in the game, 65-70, but the reigning MVP took over, scoring or assisting on six of the next seven La Salle points to make it a double-digit advantage again with just 1:21 to go, 77-67.
“Ang naalala ko po sa last game even before ‘yung UP game, I just remember nasa dugout po kaming lahat and I could hear the roar of the UE crowd going ang ingay talaga sobrang supportive… Mahirap talaga ‘yun kalaban we knew we knew we really need to come out strong,” said Mike Phillips, who came through with a monster double-double of 27 points and 17 rebounds to go with five assists and two blocks.
Quiambao, despite being under the weather, still delivered with 10 points and six rebounds, while Macalalag also had 10 points.
Marasigan also flourished with nine points and five rebounds in the triumph while Joshua David was steady with eight points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
La Salle seeks for five in a row on Wednesday, 6 p.m. against University of Santo Tomas at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Precious Momowei made 21 points and nine rebounds as UE saw its five-game winning streak come to a screeching halt, falling to 5-3, still at solo third.
Abate had 11 points and four assists, while Rainer Maga and Gjerard Wilson added nine and eight points, respectively, for the Red Warriors.
Wello Lingolingo was put in clamps, missing all of his six attempts from the field, finishing with just two points on a pair of free throws.
UE looks to return to its winning ways on Sunday against Far Eastern University at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.
The Scores:
DLSU 77 – Phillips 27, Quiambao 10, Macalalag 10, Marasigan 9, David 8, Abadam 6, Ramiro 3, Gollena 2, Gonzales 2, Austria 0, Agunanne 0, Dungo 0.
UE 68 – Momowei 21, Abate 11, Maga 9, Wilson 8, J. Cruz-Dumont 7, Galang 6, Lingolingo 2, Malaga 2, Fikes 2, Mulingtapang 0, H. Cruz-Dumont 0.
Quarterscores: 14-14, 36-37, 63-54, 77-68.